PYONGYANG: Hundreds of trucks carrying thousands of troops lined a Pyongyang riverbank in the pale light of dawn early on Sunday (Sep 9), as nuclear…
PYONGYANG: Hundreds of trucks carrying thousands of troops lined a Pyongyang riverbank in the pale light of dawn early on Sunday (Sep 9), as nuclear-armed North Korea prepared to celebrate its birthday with a huge show of military strength.
Sunday is the 70th anniversary of the 1948 foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as the North is officially known, three years after Moscow and Washington divided the peninsula between them in the closing days of the Second World War.
Such set-piece dates are a mainstay of the North’s political calendar, particularly when round numbers are involved, and have traditionally been occasions for showing off its latest hardware.
“Anniversaries are important in the DPRK, and this one is particularly so,” said Evans Revere of the Brookings Institution think-tank in Washington.
“These celebrations are also occasions for the leader to demonstrate accomplishments and national power, and to take credit for them.”
The displays – overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, the third member of his family to rule the country – are crucial to Korea-watchers, who observe them closely for clues about its latest advances.
First, companies of soldiers goose-step through Kim Il Sung Square, then the material becomes steadily more intimidating, with tanks rolling past and aircraft flying overhead, until the programme culminates with intercontinental ballistic missiles.
But the rockets may not be on show this time, analysts say.
Too militaristic a display could risk upsetting the diplomatic dalliance on the peninsula, after Kim’s Singapore meeting with US President Donald Trump in June and his third summit with the South’s President Moon Jae-in due in Pyongyang later this month.
